Life Begins
by Unforgettable Green Eyes
Summary: Cloud and Aeris are about to embark on a new adventure together. AU.


_**Life Begins**_

The final echoes of her screams are still reverberating off the walls as panting painfully, she digs her nails deeper into his arms and bucks wildly against him. Her inner muscles squeeze frenziedly at him, milking him to the last drop, and he presses her deeper into the mattress, his groin hard against hers as he finishes coming inside of her.

"Don't move."

"Wh-what?" she gasps, writhing under him, trying to make sense of his words.

"Don't move." His voice is guttural above her.

"Why?" She's dying. She's still dying. "I… I can't...stop. _Cloud_."

"Babe," he groans, holding her disobedient hips still. "Don't you feel that?"

"What?" She twists fitfully against him, hopelessly ensnared in the grips of the mad fever.

"Our baby," he rasps, his jaw clenched. "Our baby, that's what."

She stills completely. Every muscle in her body save for those still contracting around him has gone taut as she lies beneath him, stiff as a board. Lack of oxygen is causing purple dots to appear in front of his face as she looks up at him with glazed eyes in the sudden silence of the room.

"You _can_ breathe, you know," he says after a long minute of her holding deathly still and swinging his feet up from the floor to join her on the bed, moves them both up toward the headboard and pillows. There is a hint of laughter in his voice and Aeris sees the amusement in his glowing eyes, lit an even brighter, startling shade of blue by the candles flickering on the bedside table. He comes down over her to rest his arms on top of the pillow that cushions her head, trapping her between them.

She sucks in a painful gulp of air and expels her breath slowly, cautiously. She's still afraid to move and there is a strange tingling where he is buried inside her.

"Do you really think we did it?" Her voice is barely audible, but every syllable uttered is filled with a deep longing that she cannot hide.

The amusement disappears from his face as he stares down at her. "I don't know."

Her smile is wistful. "I hope so. I want it so badly."

Cloud is silent as he brushes his lips gently over her forehead.

With a sigh, she turns her face into his neck and runs her hands over his shoulders. "I guess I want it too much," she says in a constricted whisper.

A large hand fists in the wet tangles of her hair, holding her even closer to him. She nuzzles his throat and touches her lips to his collarbone, letting her eyelids drift shut and breathing deeply of him. Despite the fierce intimacy of the sexual act and utter abandon with which she gives herself to him each time, there is something in this connection with him afterwards that always makes her feel so devastatingly open and vulnerable to him. Joined together as they are, they are as close as two human beings can be, not a breath of space between their bodies, and yet the deepest sense of closeness and completion comes from just simply _them_.

 _Bright, happy laughter echoes faintly in her head._

 _Unmistakable baby laughter that every part of her being recognizes. The sound of a pair of little feet scampering across floorboards. A dimpled, pink elbow. Fragile newborn hands, the skin almost translucent, curled around his fingers, grasping them tightly. Small arms wrapped about her neck. Solemn green eyes, full of innocence and the future._

 _A tiny blond-haired form held protectively in the arms of the much bigger blond it bears an uncanny resemblance to._

Aeris gasps, her eyes flaring open, her furiously pounding heart beating so hard, it almost bursts out of her chest.

It has happened.

They have truly created a baby this night.

That beautiful infectious laughter belongs to their child. Their child who bears such a remarkable likeness to her love.

 _"Cloud."_

He shifts above her and starts to lift himself off of her.

"No, wait!" she cries out, locking her ankles more securely behind his back and tightening her arms around his neck. "Don't move yet. Don't leave."

He freezes, then chuckles. "You do know this isn't how babies are made."

"It's how this one is," she answers. "Stay just a bit longer."

He inhales sharply and lifts his head to stare down at her. "Aeris?"

"Congratulations, love." There is a catch in her voice. "You're going to be a father."

"I…" He swallows hard.

Despite the earth-shattering joy and overwhelming wonder of the discovery that has just rocked her to her very core, she can't help but giggle at the look on his face. "Tease me and this is what you get. It's really happened."

His throat works but no sound comes out.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

"…Aeris."

She sighs. "Coming from you, that's a lot, I suppose."

He gives her such a dark scowl, she is hard put not to laugh. "How?"

"Weren't you here?" She bites her lip as more laughter threatens to escape. "Well… I'm no doctor or teacher for that matter, but I guess I can try to explain the mechanics of human reproduction to you. Every man and woman, if their equipment is working properly, carries inside of them the necessary ingredients for making new life. Specifically, the male carries the seed and the female the egg. When a man and a woman come together and engage in sexual intercourse, sometimes the man's seed will fertilize the egg, depending on the woman's cycle and time of the month—"

" _Aeris._ " He is glowering even more fiercely at her now.

"Yes, Cloud?" She looks innocently up at him and slides a hand from the back of his neck to caress a lock of damp hair drooping over his forehead. Flicks it back over his head and traces the slight curve of a sculpted cheekbone with light fingers. She can never resist the urge to touch him.

"Can you not describe what we do like that?" he asks in exasperation as she lets her fingers skim from his jawline down to his throat, shoulder, and chest, feeling the slickness of his skin, beaded with perspiration, the hard muscles underneath. She inhales deeply and her nostrils pick up the scent of sex hanging heavily in the air.

"All right," she says with an agreeable smile. "Let's do it from a woman's perspective then—mine. A young boy and girl meet and they develop an attraction to one another. They fall in love and over time, their feelings grow deeper and stronger, and they feel the desire and need to express their feelings for one another in a physical way as well—"

"Aeris."

"—so they make wild, passionate love, and during one such occasion where they join their bodies together, their union results in a baby being con—"

"Not like that either," he says dryly.

"Then like what? Shall I try to do it from a man's point of view?"

The look of horror on his face is priceless.

"Am I really that bad?"

"Never mind. I don't think I really need to know." Cloud gives a rueful shake of his head. "Can I move now?"

She laughs and tugs him down to lie completely on top of her and wraps her arms and legs tightly around him again. Their bodies are sticky with sweat, but neither of them care as she kisses his hair and closes her eyes, in love and gratitude, unable to suppress the tears of pure joy that have welled up.

Soon he will have another reason to live for. To laugh.

She can hardly wait.

"You know," he murmurs against her throat. "This isn't at all the way I learned about how babies are made."

Aeris lets out a blissful sigh. "What do you mean? We made love, didn't we?"

A faint rumbling in his chest has her brow creasing.

"What?" she demands.

He levers up onto his elbows. "That was a very interesting take on sex," he chuckles. "I didn't expect you to describe it like that. It didn't sound very much like it even came from a woman's point of view."

"That's because I was giving you the child-friendly version—the one I'll tell our baby someday. The adult version is much more intense than that. Would you care to hear it?"

"No," he says firmly.

"Come on." She gives him what she hopes is her most convincing smile.

"You can tell me later. Right now, I want to know something else."

She arches a brow at him. "Oh?"

"Aren't you going to tell me if it's a boy or a girl?"

"What makes you think I know that?"

He shoots her a look of extreme harassment. "Because you do."

Her lips tremble with laughter. "Well, then, maybe that's for me to know and you to—ow! Cloud!" She rubs at her neck as he raises his head to look at her again. "If you leave teeth marks, everyone will see. Again."

"Think you can try to keep it from me?" Fingers rough with calluses smooth away the damp tendrils of dark brown hair clinging to her throat and chest. "I'll tickle it out of you if I have to."

"Now hold on just a minute…" She squeals and tries to squirm away but he is much too strong for her. He has her trapped and pinned neatly to the bed under him. She grabs at the arms that can seem to multiply in numbers and feel like they're made of steel whenever he wraps them around her. "Cloud!" Her giggles do little to persuade him that she actually wants him to stop. "You can't! Someone will hear us!"

"So?" He captures both her wrists easily with one hand, bringing them up over her head and securing them against the pillow.

She laughs breathlessly. "You're the one that will be embarrassed by their teasing."

A negligent shrug of his shoulders is his answer and she sees the amused resignation in his eyes. Her heart skips a beat. She still can't get over how carefree he can be when they're alone together. As if the years of darkness and pain had never been. As if the past doesn't still haunt him in the night sometimes.

"It's not like everyone doesn't already know. Besides, what about when you start getting bigger?"

"We can say it's a miracle baby."

He sucks in his breath and the look on his face makes her forget her struggles to get away. "It _is_ a miracle baby, Aeris."

Her laughter immediately subsides. "Yes, it is."

Their eyes meet and hold and countless emotions pass between them in that one glance.

"Cloud," she whispers. "Thank you." Her throat tightens and she can't continue speaking, not even to tell him why she's thanking him. But she knows he can hear her unspoken thoughts anyway and understands that she is thanking him for far more than the baby.

"Thank you," he returns the words softly, and she hears the rest of his thoughts as well.

It never fails to stir her. _He_ never fails to stir her. Everything about him, great or small, moves her. It has always been this way for her.

He releases her wrists to cup her cheek. "I hope our baby has your eyes."

A smile trembles on her lips.

"But I love your eyes," she argues playfully. "I want our baby to have your eyes."

"Okay," he agrees easily, touching her disheveled hair. "Your hair then."

"I love your hair, too. It has to have that."

"Nose?"

She shakes her head.

"Ears."

A startled giggle escapes her as she shakes her head again.

"Feet then."

She bites at her inner cheeks but a grin breaks out on her face anyway. "Absolutely not," she says with mock severity.

He chuckles. "Give me something here, Aeris."

"Oh, all right," she grumbles and they both laugh at their silliness. Quick as a flash, she lifts up her head and kisses him, so she can catch and savor the feel of his laughter on her lips. "My eyes it is. Everything else is yours." Her smile turns mischievous. "But don't be too disappointed if things don't turn out exactly that way. I don't get to decide what or who our baby will look like."

"But you've always given me everything I wanted," he says, his face suddenly serious. "You even came back to me after you had already left this world. I have every faith in you that you can make this happen."

She looks up at him, a familiar lump in her throat.

"Aeris." Her name is spoken with such reverence that her eyes fill with tears again.

He lifts up slightly to work a hand between them and splays his fingers over her flat stomach. The sound of his voice, the tenderness on his face, his hand caressing her so very gently, it all touches her deeply. She moves her hand down to cover his and their eyes meet again.

"Your baby, Cloud," she whispers. "I'm carrying your baby inside me."

" _Ours_ ," he corrects her solemnly. He cups his hand, cradling her belly. "Our baby, Aeris."

"Ours," she says with a soft smile. "Our baby."

"You won't be the last Cetra anymore." Her eyes follow the curve of his lips as they lift faintly, his happiness for her unmistakable in his rare smile.

"No," she says achingly. "I won't be."

He brings his hand up to the pillow once more, surrounding her with both his arms again as he hovers above her. Tunneling his fingers into her hair, he bends his head and touches his lips to hers.

Aeris moans. She loves the way he kisses her. She can never get enough of it or of him. Gentle or rough, she can always feel the acute yearning he feels for her in his kisses, the love and desire. The need that had given her the will and the power to find a way back to him from the lifestream.

"I can't wait for you to see our baby," she says quietly as he releases her lips.

He looks at her in stunned silence. "You mean…?"

She nods, smiling softly at the thought of the small figure she'd seen curled up against his chest. The quick glimpse of that tiny face had struck something deep inside her soul, just like the face of the man before her always does.

"I saw and heard our baby. Your genes are very strong. My eyes. Everything else is yours." She lifts a brow at him as she repeats her earlier words, feeling so ridiculously ecstatic and pleased, she doesn't think she can contain it. "Oh, Cloud. I'm so happy. So very, _very_ happy."

They hold each other silently, treasuring the moment, their closeness, and the knowledge of their unborn child.

"Aeris?" He brings his head back up to look down at her.

She gives him an indulgent smile. "Yes, love?"

"You _do_ know you're not going to get away with keeping the baby's sex from me."

"Hmm." Her smile widens. "Maybe you can find a really good way to get it out of me then."

"Like what?"

"Use your imagination."

He immediately gets the hint.

Her breathy sighs and soft moans quickly fill the room again. But there is something else she needs to do before she loses the ability to think completely.

"I'd like to name him after you."


End file.
